Firms hoping for regulatory favours may direct their business purchases towards firms controlled by politicians, who benefit from the additional revenue. This column provides evidence from Italy consistent with this channel. It shows that the share of advertising on Berlusconi’s televisions increased while he was in power, and this even more so in the most regulated industries.

How much does media bias affect electoral outcomes? This column examines the Italian case, where Berlusconi, the prime minister, has controlled six out of seven national channels for ten years. It exploits exogenous variation in viewers' exposure to Berlusconi using random switchovers from analogue to digital TV that increased free national channels tenfold. It argues the switch has caused a drop in Berlusconi’s vote share by 5.5 to 7.5 percentage points.

The price of credit-default swaps can be used to estimate the probability of sovereign default. This column examines the case of Italy, looking at how default risk varies across maturities and how this has evolved since January 2011. It suggests that markets are pricing in a heightening of risk two years from now – mostly probably due to political tensions and the risk of deadlocked reform.

Berlusconi’s new government faces tough economic challenges. Here one of Italy’s leading economists highlights three concerns the government must tackle in its first year: fiscal federalism, electoral reform, and curbing tax evasion.